SFWA has announced that Gene Wolfe will be named the Damon Knight Grandmaster, with his induction occurring at the Nebula Award Weekend in San Jose, California the weekend of May 16-19, 2013. Wolfe is the author of The Book of the New Sun, The Wizard Knight, and numerous other novels and short stories.

OdysseyCon is sponsoring the Sixth Annual OddContest. The contest is open to submissions of 500 words or less, either speculative fiction or prose poetry. Prizes will be awarded for youth and adult. Entrants under 18 may submit a single work for consideration at no charge with a $50 prize for first place. Adults may submit as many pieces as they like with a $10 submission fee per work and a a $500 prize for first place. Prizes also include memberships in OdysseyCon and books. OdysseyCon takes place in Madison, WI the weekend of April 12-14.

The 2013 Odyssey Writers Workshop, run by Jeanne Cavelos, is scheduled to take place June 10 to July 19 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. This year’s writer in residence is Nancy Holder. Other instructors include Holly Black, Patricia Bray, Adam-Troy Castro, Jack Ketchum, and Sheila Williams. Applications for early action are due on January 31, with regular applications due April 8.

Astronomer Patrick Moore (b.1923) died at his home on December 9. Moore collaborated with artist David A. Hardy on the Hugo Award-nominated Futures: 50 Years in Space: The Challenge of the Stars. He served as the President of the British Astronomical Association and was the co-founder of the Society for Popular Astronomy. Moore was invited to run an observatory in East Grinstead when he was only 14.

The 2012 Sunburst Award winners have been announced. The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a juried award given to a Canadian writer for a book length work of SF. The prize comes with a hand-crafted medallion and Can$1,000.

Author Michael Alexander died on December 4 from cancer. A Clarion graduate, Alexander published his first story, “Advances in Modern Chemotherapy” in F&SF in 2010. He followed that with five more stories in F&SF, two in Analog, and an anthology appearance. Prior to finding success as a writer, Alexander had been an engineer.

Weta digital effects editor Eileen Moran died on December 3 from cancer. Moran has worked on several major film franchises since 1999, including The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and, most recently, The Hobbit. She served as a co-producer on the 2005 remake of King Kong. Moran won four Visual Effects Society Awards between 2006 and 2010.

Jo Walton and Lesley Livingstone have received the first Copper Cylinder Awards from the Sunburst Award Society. The Copper Cylinder Award is a member’s choice award selected by members of the Sunburst Award Society for books published during the previous year. The title comes from the first Canadian speculative fiction story, “A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder,” by James De Mille and the prize includes a trophy shaped like a copper cylinder.

Copper Cylinder Adult Award: Among Others, by Jo Walton

Copper Cylinder Young Adult Award: Once Every Never, by Lesley Livingstone

Jim C. Hines will raise money in support of research into Aicardi Syndrome by doing follow-up poses based on book covers. If Hines raises more than $1,000, John Scalzi will do a pose with him as well (and a second if the $2,500 goal is met). Aicardi Syndrome causes brain malformation, visual problems, seizures, developmental delays, and other medical complications. Most research puts the life expectancy for people with Aicardi between 8 and 16 years. Hines’s fund-raising effort will run through the end of 2012.